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Wednesday, 3 September 2014

In my home Idli_Dosa batter is
made once a week and Idli is made immediately after the first round of
fermenting. Idlis only made an appearance the day after the batter was ground.
From day two onwards, it will be dosa time - soft, fluffy and slight thick for small
Kids, roasted and crisp for all of us. This would go on for about 4 days
until the next round of batter was made. Sometime Dosa is prepared for dinner
too with different kinds of chutneys and side dishes.

NOTES and FAQs:

1. Dosa is white even after it
is cooked. Why?

Couple of reasons are - Batter
is too cold - just bring it to room temperature before making. Cold batter
would yield hard idlis and rubbery dosas. or, the proportion of rice in Batter
is too high. Adjust proportions to make the Batter. Adding too much dal in
batter will contribute to dosas that are too red in colour. Adjust accordingly
while grinding next batch.

2. Dosa batter grainy. Why?

To get smooth consistency
Batter remember to soak the rice and dal for enough time and grind it to a very
smooth consistency before fermenting. An Indian mixie is good to make small
quantities. A wet grinder is obviously the best option for making Idli_Dosa
batter at home.

3.Why does Dosa stick to the
pan?

·Use a well-greased pan - if your tawa is new, you need to season
it to make sure it's ready to make dosas. Using a non stick pan works but , the
dosas turn out bit dry compared to tawa. Use a pre-seasoned iron tawa and it
will be fine.

·Also, Keep one tawa exclusively for dosa, never use a dosa tawa to
make rotis.

·Grease Dosa pan properly, by using anything you can dip into oil -
like a piece of onion, potato, a wooden spoon, etc. Dip into the oil and rub
generously all over the tawa. So always grease tawa fully and don't pour the
oil before spreading dosa.

·Batter is too old and sour. That's another reason why it would
stick to the pan.

4. How to ferment Idli_Dosa
batter in a cold place?

The best option to ferment in
cold country is to leave the batter in a bowl covered with a plate in the oven
with the light turned on. Do not turn on the oven itself. The heat from the
light is enough to give it that extra push. It also helps if you mix the batter
for 2-3 mins with your hand before keeping the Batter for fermentation.

5. How much salt need to add to
the dosa batter?

I actually don't measure salt.
Add required amount of salt and you can taste the batter and see if it seems
salty enough. Adding enough salt is important for right amount of fermentation.

6. Why are my Idlis hard?

Because of two reasons. Cold
batter or too less urad dhal. The batter should always be in room temperature
before making Idlis or Dosas. The urad dhal should be ground to fluffy
consistency to make soft idlis. If the ground urad dhal batter is tight it would
lead to hard idlis. Having said that, do not add water to make it loose. It
doesn't work that way. Adding water little by little while grinding gives the
fluffy cloud like consistency.

7. Why are my dosas not crispy/
Why are my dosas are white?

There are two known reasons for
this. First, the batter should have fermented well and slightly sour (compared
to idly) for crisp golden dosas. Second, the batter should be in room
temperature for golden dosas.

8. Dosas are very sour. Why?
Batter is over-fermented or too old. If you have some Ragi flour or wheat flour,
add it to the old batter and make Instant Ragi Dosas or semi-wheat dosas.
Another trick is to add equal amounts of fresh batter and make dosas.

9. How do I use store-bought Idli_Dosa batter?
The quality of store-bought batter really varies a lot. With different brands we
usually have different experiences. One thing that's common is, although they
all claim to also make good idlis, they don't. So don't waste your time making
idlis with store-bought batter. To prepare Dosas, add some water to bring it to
the right consistency. Use up all batter within 3 days, they don't last as much
as homemade batter.

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I’m Savitha and I live in Singapore with my husband and two beautiful daughters.

I love to experiment with cooking, therefore started a blog post to share my recipes direct from my kitchen where I spend long time. I have fond memories of eating wonderful food especially Karnataka and Andhra cousins. Please do leave a comment or like on social networking sites like FB & Google+ if you like my blog post.